PhD Students’ Perceptions of Research Seminars in Doctoral Education: A Case Study
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Date
2023
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Publisher
Cogent Education
Abstract
There is no doubt that supervision plays a significant role in doctoral
education. Supervisors have a fiduciary responsibility for guiding their supervisees
throughout their doctoral research and theses writing journeys. In recent times
however, many doctoral education programmes have adopted a collegial support
system for doctoral students by introducing students’ research seminars to sup plement traditional supervision. Research seminars offer both students and faculty
the opportunity to engage in scholarly dialogue aimed at improving the former’s
research and thesis. Although such seminars have become commonplace in many
doctoral education programmes worldwide, little research exist on students’ per ceptions of research seminars in doctoral learning. In this paper, we contribute to
the literature by exploring the perceptions of 12 PhD students from a University in
Ghana about research seminars and their usefulness in doctoral education. The
findings indicate that the students perceived research seminars in doctoral educa tion as spaces evoking manifold purposes—constructive advice; discrediting stu dents’ work; varied views; and “muffling” students’ voices. Furthermore, the
students’ perceptions of the usefulness of research seminars in their learning were
trifocal in scope—research and thesis writing, presentation skills, and confidence building. The paper makes some recommendations for improving research seminars
in doctoral education for the purpose of enhancing collegial learning.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
research seminar, doctoral learning, scholarly dialogue, collegial support system